Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - On the brink of another disheartening loss to
the Chicago Cubs, the playoff-hopeful St. Louis Cardinals flipped the script
on Saturday.
Carlos Beltran hit a game-tying solo homer in the ninth inning and Jon Jay
delivered a two-out, RBI double in the 10th to give the Cardinals a 5-4 win.
In Friday's series opener, the Cubs earned a 5-4 extra-inning victory courtesy
of Darwin Barney's two-run homer in the ninth and David DeJesus' RBI single in
the 11th.
Saturday's win moved the Cardinals 2 1/2 games ahead of the Los Angeles
Dodgers and the hard-charging Milwaukee Brewers, who saw their six-game win
streak come to an end with a 10-4 loss to the Washington Nationals earlier in
the day.
As they did in the series opener, the Cardinals led early on Saturday, but the
Cubs pieced together a three-run sixth inning, which was highlighted by
DeJesus' leadoff homer, to take a 4-3 lead.
But Beltran's one-out blast off Carlos Marmol in the ninth cleared the stands
inside the right-field foul pole and Mitchell Boggs (4-1) stranded a pair in
the bottom half to send the game into extras.
There, Matt Carpenter and pinch-hitter Bryan Anderson worked back-to-back two-
out walks before Jay ripped a double down the right-field line off Jaye
Chapman (0-1) to push across the go-ahead run.
Jason Motte struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th to record his 39th
save of the season and lock up St. Louis' fifth win in six games.
The Sports Network